FAVOURATE DESTINATIONS

We have over the years visited more than 30 parks or wilderness areas and although we maintain that life is to short to travel the same road twice, we do have some favourate areas and parks. We also maintain that whereas the destiny is the reason for the journey, more often than not, it is the journey itself which is the adventure. While we were driving around in the Kruger Park in 2007, Tossie and I discussed the various bigger Game Parks which we had visited during our lives and attempted to rate them by our standards being mostly as regards how much we enjoyed them. The list appeared as follows:

Kruger National Park (Mpumalanga)
Moremi (Botswana)

Chobe (Botswana)Serengeti (Tanzania)
Ngorongoro (Tanzania)
Etosha (Namibia)
Susuwe Triangle (Namibia)Kalaghadi National Park (Nothern Cape)
Mabuesehube (Botswana)
Amboselli (Kenya)
Hwangi (Zimbabwe)
Addo Elephant National Park (Eastern Cape)

Kaokoveld (Namibia)

Ruawha (Tanzania)
Sossus Vlei (Namibia)
Richtersveld (Northern Cape)
Hluhluwe/Mofolozi (KZN)
Mapungubwe National Park (Northern Province)
Victoria Falls Park (Zimbabwe)
Cradock Mountain Zebra Park (Eastern Cape)
Matoppos National Park (Zimbabwe)
Golden Gate National Park (Freestate)

Botsalano Park (North Western Province)
Karoo National Park (Western Cape)
Stormsriver National Park (Eastern Cape)
Augrabies National Park (Northern Cape)
Molopo Game Park (North Western Province)
Parc de Bahine (Mozambique)

Although this priority ranking is obviously also dictated by the circumstances (such as the company – my children being part of it) at the times of our visits, to us the Kruger Park remains a very popular destination with us.

WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

Adventure seekers go on Safari varying in exposure to risk. In my experience the adventures that you realy remember are those when things force you off your carefully planned itinerary. May be at the time not so amusing and pleasant, but it always makes a good story provided you got out of the problem safely. Not so long ago we toured through Botswana during their rainy season. We were warned of several people who were stuck in mud pools for days and others having been airlifted out of their misery. So we approached our adventure carefully. The best advice given us by a friend who also toured Botswana in the "mud season" with the added adventure of having driven right over a crocodile in one of the deeper mud pools was, when in trouble, not to start panicking but to get going on solving the problem. Get out grab your spade and start digging. However, when an agitated crocodile should appear - panick!!

This post was triggered by the adventure that the group of Cape Town friends told to me recently. They were travelling through the Kaokoveld and having been on the "road" since early morning, were absolutely exhausted when they reached their camp near Purros late afternoon. When the back marker arrived, they asked him where he had lost his trailer. Totally down and out he retorted that it was not the time for such sick jokes, but on inspection found that he had broken the hitch and lost the trailer. A search party retraced the route and found it some thirteen kilometers back and with the aid of the miracle safari recovery material ("bloudraad") managed to hitch it and tow it to camp.

Ever seen a symphony of errors? During a tour through the Caprivi we wetre to depart from Ngepi near Divundu for Kasane in Botswana some 400 kms away. Having broken camp, the plan was to drive to Divundu for diesel and lead free petrol for one of the vehicles. Problem numero uno. The Toyota KZTE's battery was flat and attempts to jump start it yielded no positive results. After a long walk out of Ngepi to find a mobile signal Toyota South Africa (on a Sunday) explained that the immobiliser had to be reset. Meanwhile the clock ticked and being preoccupied, a question of one of the ladies of whether we will still make the border post at Ngoma Bridge was simply ignored. Done. Still dead. Another walk and contact with Toyota South Africa yielded no further solutions. Fortunately another tourist passed the dead Toyota and told the ladies that he previously had a similar problem and that unless a fully charged battery is used the Toyota will not reset. Problem identified, solution found. "Will we still make it to the border in time"? Ignored because now the next thing was to get fuel at Divundu. Next problem - no lead free petrol and ....... it was so hot that the diesel pump cut out after having delivered anything from one to ten litres of diesel. Then patience untill it has reset. Eventually the two diesel vehicles wer filled. "Will we still make it to the border in time" Ignored! Now it was a rush for Kongola where, should the petrol thirsty vehicle make it we hope to find lead free petrol. We made it only tio be informed that the lead free petrol pump was out of action. Fortunately the manager arrived and said that he could help us with 15 liters to reach Katimo. Now we had to go flat out for at last the "Will we still make the border in time" registered. Flat out meant as fast as a Landrover 110 TDI could go. Well to cut this long story short, we made it but they locked up the Botswana border immediately after we left the building.

Then there was the time when my children drove to Rooi Puts in the Kalaghadi Transfrontier Park. Having been in the car all day, their children were disembarked and ran up the dunes to get rid of some accumulated energy untill a professional photographer who by chance drove into camp informed them theat the shrubs higher up the dune were in fact lions. More enrgy was spent on the sprint for the camp. Later the evening the lions casually strolled into camp and again forced the campers to the confines of their tents for the night.

At Lesholoago Pan in Mabueshehube the resident leopard was stopped short of walking right into our "laager" when it was spotted and the yells that followed. Never have I seen more inhabitants evacuating a camp via the arial route intpo roof top tents.